THE WORLD of boxing is dominated by men, both inside and out of the ring.

Occasionally, however, women do break through the ranks and make their mark.

Charles S Dutton's lightweight tale of triumph against prejudice and adversity recounts the supposedly true story of Jackie Kallen, a boxing fanatic who earned the respect of her peers the hard way.

By taking the men on at their own bruising game.

Jackie (Ryan) has grown up around boxing. Her father owned a gym and she spent most of her childhood screaming encouragement to local fighters destined for greater things.

Now thirty-something, she works as an assistant to Cleveland boxing promoter Irving Abel (Cortese).

He takes all of the glory, she does all of the work. Everyone knows who really runs the operation.

Following a heated exchange with shady boxing kingpin Sam LaRocca (Shalhoub), Karen makes a bet that she can find and train her own championship contender.

She finds the perfect raw materials in thug Luther Shaw (Epps), who works as a heavy for drug dealers and has more pent-up aggression than he knows what to do with.

Karen hires veteran trainer Felix Reynolds (Dutton) to drill Luther into shape, channelling the young man's inner rage against his opponents.

Encouraged by the unswerving support of her best friend Renee (Washington) and influential sports journalist Gavin Ross (Daly), Jackie begins to ruffle feathers in the macho establishment.

In turn, she becomes addicted to the drug of celebrity, and almost loses the people closest to her to pursue her lifelong dreams of fame and fortune.

Based on a screenplay by Cheryl Edwards, Against The Ropes is a made-for-TV movie elevated to mediocrity by a starry ensemble cast.

Ryan never looks comfortable as a ballsy babe with more brains than dress sense and while Epps looks the part, he's far too restrained to convince as a man with emotional demons to slay.

There's a pleasing chemistry between the two leads, although the film contrives a romance between Luther and best friend Renee, which blossoms out of nowhere.

Like all good boxing films, Against The Ropes reaches a dramatic crescendo with its make-or-break championship bout. The film itself fails to land a single punch.

DAMON SMITH